Gov't panel seeks extension on Ulpana evacuation

Ministerial committee also converts West Bank outposts of Rehalim, Bruchin and Sansana into legal settlements.

Apartments in Ulpana oupost in danger of being evacuated .
(photo credit:Tovah Lazaroff)

A special ministerial committee on Monday night decided to seek from the Supreme Court a delay to the scheduled evacuation of the Ulpana outpost located on the outskirts of the Beit El settlement, which the is slated to be evacuated by the end of April because it was built on private Palestinian land.

The committee instructed the Prosecutor's Office to seek an extension from the court this week.

The committee also decided to legalize the three West
Bank outposts of Rehalim, Bruchin and Sansana.

Regarding Rehalim and Bruchin, which are both in
Samaria, and Sansana, located in the southern Hebron Hills, government officials
said the decision to formalize their status did not “change the reality on the
ground,” and that the move neither represented the establishment of new
settlements or the expansion of existing ones.

Rather, the officials
said, the move merely gave legal standing to the three communities which, for
various technical reasons, had never been granted that status in the
past.

The government approved the creation of Bruchin on May 19, 1983,
Rehalim on November 27, 1991, and Sansana on June 28, 1998 as legal settlements,
according to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Netanyahu promised to formalize
the standing of the three communities, as well as find a solution to the Ulpana
outpost without destroying 30 homes there, after the security forces removed
Jews who had moved into a home they purchased in Hebron earlier this
month.

Officials said the decision to formally authorize the three
communities as settlements did not violate a pledge Israel made not to create
new settlements, because these communities were created prior to that
promise.

Attorney Talia Sasson included Bruchin and Rehalim in her 2005
report on outposts that she penned for the government.

According to
Sasson, Bruchin was established in May 1999 on state land, some two kilometers
away from the Alei Zahav settlement with NIS 3.3 million from the Construction
and Housing Ministry.

She said it was unclear if it had authorization
from the government or the Defense Ministry. She did note that according to the
civil administration, it had been approved by the government.

Sasson
added that it also lacked zoning plans.

According to Sasson’s report,
Rehalim was created in 1991, near the Kfar Tapuah settlement, with NIS 980,000
from the Construction and Housing Ministry. She said that it lacked
authorization from the government or the Defense Ministry.

It was built
partially on state land and partially on land that belonged to private
Palestinians, she added.